Edward l



UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

EDW'ARD L. PHIPPS, OF MILFORD, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO SOLONVVILI-IELM AND ALMON D. IVEBB, BOTH OF SAME PLACE.

CAR-DOOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Fatent No. 420,465, datedFebruary4, 1890.

Application filed September 21, 1889- Serial No. 324,610. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDWARD L. PHIPPS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Milford, county of Oakland, State of Michigan, have inventeda certain new and useful Improvement in Oar-Doors; and I declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact descript-ion of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains tomake and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to that class of sliding car-doors which areadapted to be automatically held in place whether in a closed orfully-open position, so that the ordinary jar of the car will not movethe door along on its hangers and thus misplace it.

The invention consists in novel features of construction andcombinations of parts set forth in the claims at the end of thisspecification.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation showing a portion of theside of a car with my door thereon. Fig. 2 is a cross-section throughthe door and adjacent frame.

In carrying out my invention, A represents the side or frame of the car;B, the door.

0 is a suitable track above the door, inclined upward from each end tothe middle, and provided at this middle or higher portion with a notchor depression C.

D D are the hangers from which the door is hung, and journaled in theupper ends of the hangers are the rollers (1, adapted to travel on thetrack. I do not care to limit myself to the shape of the rollers andtrack; but where the track is flat and the face of the rollerscorrespond I provide the upper edge of the door with a projection b,which, entering the groove or depression 0 in the track,

prevents the rollers from running off the track when the door is beingmoved or when it is at rest.

E are suitable cleatsjadapted to prevent the lower end of the door fromflying out from the frame when it is in an open position.

E is a suitable stop adapted to limit the distance to which the door canbe opened.

E is a strip against which the edge of the door rests when it is closed.

e is a suitable cleat, adapted also to hold the door firmly against theframe when it is closed.

The operation, of the door is as follows: WVhen the door is closed, thehanger D rests in the notch or depression 0, and the pin 19 passingthrough an orifice in the cleat E the door is heldfirmly in position.door, the operator grasps a suitable handle B and raises the upperright-hand corner of the door. This raises the hanger out of the notchor depression, and the door may be moved along until it is fully open.This will bring the hanger D adjacent to the notch or depression, andthis hanger, entering the notch, prevents the door from closing untilthe hanger is lifted out of the notch. It will thus be seen that thedoor is held in an open or closed position by an extremely simple means,and is at the same time easily operated. When but one notch is used, asin the above construction, the track above the doorway must be inclinedin order to make the door stand level when the hanger rides into thenotch.

The door may be locked when in a closed position in any suitablemanneras, for instance, at F. A suitable hasp f, hinged to thecar-frame, engages over a suitable staple f on the door; or, if desired,one of the cleats E may be provided with a hole to permit the passagetherethrough of a pin 1), the lower end of which is provided with anorifice b and a pin b passed through this orifice to lock the door. Theusual seal 19 may then be passed through the pin.

In order that the door when being opened will pass entirely beyond theedge of the doorway before the hanger rides into the notch O, I curvethe hangers outward, so that their ends will be beyond the edges of thedoor. Thus when the hangerD rides into the notch the edge of the door iswell beyond the edge of the doorway, as shown by the dotted lines inFig. 1'.

'What I claim is 1. The combination, with the frame, the door, and thetrack above the door provided with a notch or depression near itsmiddle, of the hangers D D, for supporting the door, each of saidhangers curved outward, so that To move the the bearing-point of each onthe track shall be beyond the edge of the door, substantially asdescribed.

2. The combination, with the car-frame and the door supported bysuitable hangers D D,

each of which is curved outward from the door, of a track located abovethe door on which the hangers slide, said track inclined upward fromeach end to the middle, and a notch or depression located in said trackat said middle portion, said notch adapted to re ceive the ends of saidhangers, substantially as described.

3. lhe combination, with the car-frame, the

